Well my pop was intent on buying an LCD TV and we went to the Sony World Outlet, and first they were playing cable TV, me and pop were both turned off by it, later even when they put up a Dish TV connection we were not satisfied... However we thought that since we have a huge collection of DVD’s the LCD was worth it. At that point of time Tata had declared that it would come out with its version of Satellite TV. So we decided to wait, firstly because Pop is a Tata employee and even at that time we were aware that we would get some form of discount, plus Dish TV was not providing any of the Star Channels at that time.
So we waited and finally Tata Sky was launched. We still waited I enquired with one of my friends, who said that he had skipped buying a LCD because the picture quality on his TV itself had improved drastically due to Tata Sky. Plus various magazines had put up reviews about satellite TV and had suggested that Tata is better in the usability aspect. Their remote is better, you can jump channels, there is a menu wherein you can select what channel you want, what kind of channel (Sports, news, knowledge and entertainment, movie), you can keep 20 channels in your favorites, etc, etc. What’s important is that the picture quality you get on Satellite television you will not get on Cable (Not as of yet anyways).
So we put up a request but even after repeated calls to their call center nothing happened for two months. So we shot of a mail, and they responded by sending their man the very next day. Please Note: The experience which happened with me, may not happen with you because my friend went and booked a Tata Sky connection and it was done in a day itself. So it depends on your luck. Here is How it Works *
You book you Tata Sky connection, this guy who is from a dealer’s place, comes to your place gives you the digicomp, the remote, the wires, the digicard etc. You pay Rs. 3, 000 to the chap who gives you a receipt. Then you call up their call center, tell them the digicomp number and you book a certain time with them when the engineer comes to your place with the dish, and sets it up on the terrace, for which you need society permission if you live in a flat. So on that day he gives you a form which you fill up and you pay him Rs. 1, 000 for the installation plus you take a recharge, for whatever time you want. I took a recharge for one year and I paid Rs. 3000. The charge for a month is Rs. 250, it reduces if you take for 6 months or one year. They give you a customer number which you will have to quote when you call up the call center. They also give you an option for a registered number. Which means that, every time you call from that number, you do not need to give your customer id.
For Second Digicomp
Since we had two TVs we took another digicomp. I want to make one thing very clear here. YOU CAN NOT HAVE ONE DIGICOMP FOR TWO TVS! Since the remote is for the digicomp, if you somehow manage to attach the digicomp to two TVs you will always see the same channels on both the TVs. Meaning if you are watching Star Plus one TV that same channel will play on the other TV as well.
So for the second digicomp you call ’em up again and again they bring a new digicomp and you shell out Rs. 3, 000 for digicomp, but you only pay Rs. 500 for installation this time, since the other 500 is for the dish which is already installed. Plus for the second digicomp you will only pay Rs. 100 per month.
ABOUT THE INTERFACE
A very, very good interface, especially if you are used to the usual cable wala. Can not compare with Dish, cause I have not seen its interface... Tata has an elaborate remote, it seems to be a pain to have a second remote at first in addition to your TV remote, but you will get used to it in time, and the picture quality makes it worth it.
You can also get a choice of movies that you can watch on showcase , for which you have to call the call center. Its Rs. 75 for every movie. They had at one point Rang De Basanti, Pyaar ke side effects, and a few other movies, I have many movies on DVD so I don’t use this feature.
They have classified channels under All Channels, News Channels, Movies, Knowledge and Entertainment. They even have games. You can also choose channels which you like, and put them together, you can put 20 such channels together in any order. They will appear from the channel number 900 to 919. No they do not have 1000 channels! They have around a 100. They have everything I want anyways. They keep sending you all kinds of alerts all the time, about new movies available in showcase, and added channels. They also give you schedules for programmes on every channel. So you can see what programmes come on a particular channel the entire day, or even the very next day, or when a programme/movie which is now running started
.
Oh and one very important thing, when you are running Tata Sky you are running your TV on video mode. Which means that the connection of your digicomp goes into your video in and audio in socket in your TV... Might be a problem if you have a DVD player and only one video in socket. However, all LCDs have at least 3 video and audio in outlets. And most ordinary TVs too nowadays, have at least 2.
*My Experience
*I agree with my friend that you might not need an LCD after you take TATA Sky. Par LCD pe KYA DIKHTA HAI!!! Too good!! You can set the aspect ratio to 16:9 which is DVD quality!! If you have an LCD that’s the first thing you should do. However it will be useless on an ordinary TV.. But I have both an LCD and an ordinary TV and I swear to GOD! I have a much better viewing experience than cable on both. No lines, no sudden black outs. No cable walla suddenly fluctuating his rates. Must buy for a LCD TV owner. Once you will see this you will hate cable! Maybe the Digicomp price is steep but it is a one time thing
I perfectly agree with their tagline “isko laga dala, to life jhingalala!” ;)